How the heck did K.O. slip to the 13th pick

[KG Living Legend]

 I was thinking the same thing when Kendall Gill make the comment he should have been a top 5 pick. You can tell me he has an awful wingspan for a seven footer 6'9 7.5" which is true, and he doesn't play defense like a true big, and he's not explosive off the ground. But come on I can't tell you one seven footer to handle the ball like he can. He's got the total package on offense already with room to improve.

 In a really weak draft, there are going to be some GM's kicking themselves for passing on this kid over guys with tons of "upside"

[LooseCannon]

Bias against players from mid-majors.  Bias against players who don't have elite athleticism.

[vjcsmoke]

Kelly Olynyk is gonna be a solid offensive stretch 4 for us.  I think he's well worth the #13 pick.  But come on, this was a weak draft.  Not a lot of talent to be had.  And don't forget the bias against white guys compounded by the fact that he's a non-american player.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Agree with LooseCannon. And that I think defensive deficiencies are more bothersome to deal with among bigs than guards. Bigs aren't only your last line of defense, but crappy D affects rebounding, then offense, etc.

[Atzar]

 I was thinking the same thing when Kendall Gill make the comment he should have been a top 5 pick. You can tell me he has an awful wingspan for a seven footer 6'9 7.5" which is true, and he doesn't play defense like a true big, and he's not explosive off the ground. But come on I can't tell you one seven footer to handle the ball like he can. He's got the total package on offense already with room to improve.

 In a really weak draft, there are going to be some GM's kicking themselves for passing on this kid over guys with tons of "upside"

He's the classic case of a player who doesn't wow you at the combine and therefore drops while superior athletes with less basketball skills leapfrog him based on the 'p' word. 

Having said that, let's wait for him to do something in a real game before we jinx him by talking about dropping in the draft or RotY potential.

[KG Living Legend]

 And BTW he shot %63.0 from the field that's other worldly for a volume shooter and leader of the team.

[erisred]

What everyone said, plus the NCAA tournament.

If Olynyk had gotten the Zags to the final four, with 25/10/5 stats, people would have been whispering Larry Bird all over the place and that would have offset any combine problems because, well, you know, Bird wasn't much of an athlete either. He didn't, his last game wasn't "boffo", the combine numbers didn't impress, and all the other things came into play. This led to more of a comparison to Adam Morrison than...you know...Larry Bird.

[action781]

Bias against players from mid-majors.  Bias against players who don't have elite athleticism.

Yup.  Look at how Steph Curry, Gordon Hayward, and JJ Redick fell in recent drafts.  Each of them had some combination of size, athleticism, and mid-major playing against them despite having extraordinary college careers.  All of them slipped to later in the lottery in which were considered very weak drafts and proved to be so when you look at a lot of players drafted before all of them.

And then of course there's Adam Morrison.  I think this might be why KO slipped.

[Vox_Populi]

I don't consider it much of a slip when guys like McLemore are taken out of the top 5. I don't think KO slipped at all. Matter of fact, depending on whether or not these SL performances are a red herring, Celtic fans could all go back to the opinion that he was drafted too high. How can we determine if he was a slip when we don't know how he'll perform in the NBA?

I'd consider Rondo way more of a slip than Olynyk.

[Mazingerz]

You have to thank Danny Ainge for this also. IMHO he ran a subtle subteruge to delude other GMs to think that KO was a lesser talent than the other picks out there.

He would have succeeded in obtaining him with the no. 16, but the Jazz were already sniffing talent and wanting to pick KO before us, hence the trade up.

[Smutzy#9]

Luis Scola lite

[D.o.s.]

Kelly Olynyk is gonna be a solid offensive stretch 4 for us.  I think he's well worth the #13 pick.  But come on, this was a weak draft.  Not a lot of talent to be had.  And don't forget the bias against white guys compounded by the fact that he's a non-american player.

You really think there's a bias against white guys?

[LarBrd33]

turnover prone, terrible defender, poor rebounder, lack of explosiveness, etc.

There were some major knocks on his game and the Summerleague isn't doing anything to really change those impressions.

Still, he's got some offensive weapons.  Should be fun to watch.

[EDWARDO]

Forget about why he went so late...

Which donkey will he ride into Jerusalem?!?!?

[Mazingerz]

Forget about why he went so late...

Which donkey will he ride into Jerusalem?!?!?

Hahaha. . . I'll be the one leading the Gentiles behind him. Count me in.